Read-Along Story Time for Beginning Readers (Letter L), 8/7/13

 

Read-Along Story Time for Beginning Readers (Letter L), 8/7/13

Attendees
This story time was not attended by most of the regulars, but it was still a good-sized group. Three of the kids were definite beginning readers; the others were mostly preschoolers of varying ages. They were a much quieter group than usual, and there were about 7 kids in all.  

iPad Presentation
I didn't write out sentences for my letter L images this week, and that worked out fine, since most of the kids were pretty young. They seemed to enjoy calling out the names of the different objects, and it broke the ice well enough to make them comfortable participating in the rest of the session. The images included: lamb, lion, licorice, library (which was a photo of our library), light bulb, ladybug, lettuce, Abraham Lincoln, lobster, leaves, and little old lady. 

Read-Along
I have been wanting to use Maurice Sendak's Pierre for a long time, and when I decided on L as my letter, I thought the lion in the story would tie in nicely. To make the reading of this story interactive, I created a speech bubble which said, "I don't care!" and I help it up for  the kids to read each time Pierre said he didn't care. The kids were not as into this as I thought they would be, but I think that had more to do with their being new to the story time than anything else. 

Read-Aloud
We acted out The Little Old Lady Who Was Not Afraid of Anything. Since this was a quieter group than I'm used to, it was not the boisterous activity I was expecting, but they still seemed to enjoy it. I did catch a mom rolling her eyes toward the end when we were repeating the same set of actions for the tenth time, but her son didn't seem to share her annoyance. 

Literacy Game 
We played a matching game where the kids had to tell me whether words did or did not start with the same sound. If the beginning sounds were  the same, we put down a lit-up light bulb.  If they were not the same, we put down a dim lightbulb. We repeated  the game with two variations. The second time we looked for matching ending sounds, and the third time, we listened for rhyming words. This was such a favorite, I wished I'd planned a few more rounds.

Write and Draw Activity
I re-used the bookshelf activity from my Read-Along Story Time on April 11. I changed the original handout title from, "______'s Bookshelf" to "_________'s Library and invited the kids to draw the covers or write the names of the kinds of books they liked reading.  The three oldest kids got into it; the others just colored.

Read-Along Story Time for Beginning Readers (Letter M), 7/31/13

 Read-Along Story Time for Beginning Readers (Letter M), 7/31/13

Yesterday I had the pleasure of performing my Read-Along Story Time twice - once at the main library as a special summer program, and once at my own branch as part of our regular weekly schedule. Though I focused on the letter M in both sessions, there were some major differences between the two story times, just based on the age and number of kids. Below are comments on the activities shared in both sessions and how the kids reacted to them. 

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Attendees
Main Library: 
The librarians at the main branch originally expected a camp group to attend this session, but that fell through, so I wound up with just two kids - a girl going into fourth grade, and a boy going into second grade. I spent a few minutes before the official story time chatting with them and getting to know them a little bit, so it was a natural transition into the story time environment.

My Library: 
Many of my regulars didn't make it in yesterday, but some new participants joined in, and there were 11 kids in all by the halfway point in the session. Most of the kids were true beginning readers, with just 3 of the 11 kids being slightly too young to truly participate.

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Introducing Today's Letter (M)
Main Library:
Since these kids were older, and because I didn't really want to bring the iPad with me, I opted to have them list M words for me. They did a great job - the fourth grader was especially great, with contributions of lots of names of people and states that started with M. The boy's mom even got involved, which was great to see, and her son seemed to enjoy her participation.

My Library: 
I did my usual iPad presentation, though we didn't read the sentences as a group. I let the kids call out the words and I read the sentences, trying to break the ice for some of the newcomers by asking questions and chatting about each word. The sentences are below:

If you want to buy something, you will need money.
The sun comes up in the morning.
What does a magnet do?
Have you ever played with a marble?
What do you like to eat with your macaroni?
This muffin looks delicious!
I need to wear mittens when it is cold outside.
Look at this silly monkey!
Get ready to climb the mountain!
Who sends you mail? 

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Read-Along
Main Library: 
I presented Jeremy Draws a Monster by Peter McCarty as a flannel board. My Flannel Friday post tomorrow will show the whole thing in depth, but the basic gist is that I put the dialogue up on the flannel board for all of us to read together. I also made sure to have copies of the book and its sequel on hands so the kids could look at them afterward if they wanted.

My Library: 
I did not share this story with the kids at my own branch, as I know many of them often attend preschool story time with their siblings and had just heard the story last week. I also just kind of got burned out on telling it after sharing it twice in less than a week. Instead, for this story time, the opening story was "The Club," which is the first part of Arnold Lobel's book, Grasshopper on the Road. To make it more interactive, I held up signs and word bubbles when I wanted the kids to read a part of the story. Not every child could read the signs, but at least two could, and that was enough to keep things moving.

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Bag of Verbs
Main Library:
Since these kids were older, I didn't bother with the bag of verbs with them. They might have been into it, but I decided we were on such a  roll, we didn't need to stop and let out our wiggles.

My Library: 
This was one of the better games of Bag of Verbs we have had. Every child participated, except the one little girl who never does, and for the most part, we didn't have any behavior that was too wild or too out of control.

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Read Aloud: Penny and her Marble by Kevin Henkes
Main Library:
I asked the kids one question at the end of each chapter, which I hoped would prompt them to think about the book a little bit. Since they were pretty savvy readers, they answered me right away, with thoughtful and smart responses. Here are my questions:

• Chapter 1: Did Penny do the right thing? What does that look on her face mean?
• Chapter 2: Why couldn't Penny stop thinking about the marble?
• Chapter 3: What should Penny do to make herself feel better?
• Chapter 4: What was different about getting to keep the marble the second  time?

My Library:
We read the same book at my library's session, and I asked most of the same questions. These kids were not as sophisticated as my morning duo, but with a little prompting, they still discussed the book with me somewhat. One little boy who is always a handful kept getting upset because other kids wanted a turn to talk, but I kept him pretty well in check and made sure to give positive attention to each child who had a comment.

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Literacy Game: Monkey Match
Main Library: 
I had a set of monkey faces, each with different words on them, and we sorted them by category. First, we divided them into words starting with M and words ending with M. Then we separated words with three letters from words with four letters. Finally, we used thumbs up and thumbs down signals to indicate whether words did or did not have the letter A in them.  Though this was a really basic activity for these older kids, they were great sports about participating, and there were a couple of words (mast, specifically) that the kids weren't too familiar with, so it was a nice chance to work in some new vocabulary.

My Library: 
This activity was a bit more challenging for the crowd at my branch, but I think it was more interesting for them because it was tricky. The kids who were truly beginning readers did really well, both at sounding out the words and finding their correct categories. The thumbs up / thumbs down approach works especially well.We skipped the starts and ends with M category, just because they seemed like they were getting bored.

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Read-Along
Main Library: 
I did a second read-along activity with this group, because the coloring sheet would have been too basic, and they were doing so well with everything. We read "The Club" from Grasshopper on the Road, using the same set of signs I mentioned above. These kids reacted much more strongly to the message of the story than the younger crowd at my branch.

My Library:
We didn't do another read-along at my branch.

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Coloring Page 
Main Library: 
I didn't provide a coloring page for this group.

My Library:
We colored muffins. I told the kids they could decorate their muffins with things beginning with M, but most preferred to keep things realistic and draw on actual edible toppings. I used to worry more about these coloring activities having a clear literacy component, but honestly, just letting them color and tell stories about their pictures is sometimes an educational experience unto itself.

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Visor, Tee-shirt, Shorts and Shoes
Main Library:
I felt awkward just ending story time, so I offered the opportunity to sing a silly song, and both kids were all for it. I particularly cracked up the second grader, but both kids enjoyed the element of surprise at the end of each verse.

My Library: 
We ended story time with the coloring page at my branch.

Read-Along Story Time for Beginning Readers (Letter S), 7/17/13

 

Read-Along Story Time for Beginning Readers (Letter S), 7/17/13

Attendees

Some families have made this story time a regular part of their week, so we have a nice core group of kids, many of whom were back again for this session. We also had some newbies join us for the first time, including one baby and one toddler who were decidedly not old enough to participate. (These adults who insist that 18 month olds are beginning readers are not doing their children any favors, just saying.) All told, there were roughly a dozen kids of varying levels, and three whom I would consider readers.

iPad Presentation

As I did last week, I displayed a series of pictures of things beginning with S, which were accompanied by sentences to encourage the kids to read. The kids who could read did indeed tell me what the sentences said, while the little kids happily called out the name of the object in the picture. At the end of the presentation, as I have also done in past weeks, I displayed the images of those items we would be discussing further at story time. 

Again, I don't have the  right to distribute all of the images I used, but the text I wrote is as follows: 

I hear sounds with my ears.
This cat is sleeping.
I like to wear my yellow shirt.
This is a pair of blue socks.
In summer, I wear shorts.
I can count to six.
Are you afraid of spiders?
Snakes slither and hiss.
You can build a sandcastle.
See how high you can swing!
Slip down the slide!
What could you cut with scissors?

Read-Aloud / Read-Along
I don't ordinarily choose an easy reader as a read-aloud unless  the language is exceptional, but I decided to try We All Sleep from the We Both Read series, because I knew it would prompt the kids to read some of the words on the side of the page designated for the child reader. The text was a bit long, and only one child actually read any words aloud, but some of the little kids picked up the repetition and by the end, they were calling things out as well. The oldest kids in the group, who are rising first and second graders, didn't seem bored, even when the vocabulary might have been too easy for them, which was great to discover, as I have plans to do a session of this story time for rising first through third graders at our main library in a couple of weeks. I'm not sure I'd use this specific book again, but a call and response approach does work, and I'd to explore ways to use that model.

Poem
To highlight the word "sounds," I re-used Ears Hear, which was a favorite at my school-age class visits this Spring. This group was a little shy about making noise, but by the end when it was time to scream, they all had the hang of it.

Bag of Verbs
This continues to be the best activity I've ever used with any school-age group. It gets a little wild, but it's a nice way to involve everyone. Only one child routinely refuses to have a turn, and it's because she outright refuses to participate at all, much to the chagrin of the huge family entourage that comes with her to story time each week.

Silly Sentence Sort
I invented this game myself, hoping to create an activity that a mixed age group could easily do together. The concept is based on sorting the laundry. I created four sets of words, each printed on a different article of clothing. On shirts, there were subjects for sentences, such as "The fairy" or "The giant." On the shorts, there were verbs, all in the present tense, such as "steals" or "cooks." The left socks were all adjectives, and then the right socks were all nouns. Each child took a turn selecting one article from each category and clipping it (sometimes with help) to the clothesline.  Then I wrote their sentence for them and handed them the paper so they could later illustrate it. I'm going to try making a Flannel Friday post about this activity either this afternoon or next week, so if you like the idea, stay tuned!

Silly Sentence Illustrations
After every child had a turn creating a silly sentence, I passed around crayons and colored pencils and had the kids draw pictures to accompany their sentences. Only the oldest kids really got into it, but some of the preschoolers whose parents were right there also helped them do theirs. Though the game and illustrations took a long time, and the adults were restless, the kids never lost interest, and they were great about waiting for turns and following instructions.This would have been easier to do with ten kids all on the same level, but even with toddler siblings it was still a success.

Read-Along Story Time for Beginning Readers (Letter P), 7/10/13

Read-Along Story Time for Beginning Readers (Letter P), 7/10/13

Attendees
I am so pleased with the number of kids who came to today's story time. Most of them were the older siblings of my toddler story time regulars, and others were graduates of preschool story time. There were about five kids who were able to read, and the rest consisted of a baby, five toddler siblings, and a set of twins whose first language is not English.

iPad Presentation
Instead of simply showing the kids labeled objects beginning with p and asking them to call them out, this time I wrote complete sentences to accompany each image. This way the kids who could read got to practice some sight words, while the ones who could not yet read the words were able to call out each image by name. I don't have the right to distribute the images I used, but my text is below:

This is a panda.
Here is a parasol. 
Look at the pumpkin. 
This bird is a parrot.
This bird is a penguin.
Wow! A pirate!
The pilot flies the plane.
This pickle is green.
Here comes the plumber.
Hi there, little pig!
Do you eat pancakes?
Time for pizza!

My favorite comment from a child during this segment of story time was, "The plumber plunges out the toilet and makes it work!" That about sums it up.

Poem
On Google Books, I found Phonics Through Poetry by Babs Bell Hajdusiewicz, which contains a poem entitled "The Plumber's Pledge". I told the kids to listen for the "p" sound in each line of the poem and to stand up or sit down each time they heard it. They got a big kick out of trying to keep up with the poem, which really uses quite a few Ps, and we did it twice to get them good and ready to sit and listen to a book. (You can read the poem in the Google Books preview below.)

  

Read-Aloud 
We read If You Give a Pig a Pancake. I think this book was a little basic for the group, because most of the older kids remembered it as a book they read "when they were little." There were no complaints, however, and since there were so many toddler siblings, it ended up being a book everyone could enjoy.

Sequencing Activity
I used clipart and a kindergarten handwriting font to make a set of sequencing cards for the story. I asked questions to prompt the kids to retell the story. When we started our retelling, I had all the images mixed up on one flannel board, and as we figured out their order, I invited the kids up one at a time to put the images on a second flannel board in order. One little girl was really on the ball, so she was the one who answered me most of the time, but I did allow every child who wanted a turn to come up and place a card on the flannel board.

Bag of Verbs
I will never get over how much fun this is. I love how creative the kids are with their movements, and how enthusiastic they get over it. This portion of story time can get a little wild, and sometimes the parents who stay in the  room look at me like I'm insane, but I have never once had it become so chaotic that I couldn't get the group's attention back again. 

Matching Game
After the success of the watermelon matching game two weeks ago, I decided to make another one for this session. I called it "Opposites Pizza." I made a pizza out of posterboard and then glued little paper peppers to it, each labeled with a word. Then I cut out some green peppers with the opposites of those words printed on them and held them up one at a time. I asked the kids to read the word, then to tell me its opposite, and then to find its opposite on the pizza. I handled turns the same way as with the earlier sequencing activity - I made sure everyone who wanted a chance to put a topping on the pizza had the opportunity.

Write and Draw Activity
I found a coloring page of a blank pizza and gave one to every child, asking them to cover it with toppings beginning with P. Most kids just drew their "p" items, but one girl actually wrote a great list, with words like "pretty" and "pickles."

Summer has definitely rejuvenated this story time, and I'm so pleased to have so many parents who are invested in bringing their kids each week. I am hoping for another great experience next Wednesday!

Read-Along Story Time for Beginning Readers (Letter W): 6/26/13

Read-Along Story Time for Beginning Readers (Letter W): 6/26/13

Attendees  
I had no idea how many kids to expect, and I was pleasantly surprised when I started with five and wound up with 12! One little boy was an exceptional handful, but even with his wild behavior and several distractions, this was one of  the best read-along story times I have ever done. I can only hope that this will continue through the summer! 
 
Name That Object
On the iPad, I showed the kids images of different words starting with W, all of which were labeled, and asked them to name them and talk about them a little bit. This is usually a pretty good ice breaker, and it worked even  better than usual at this story time. The "W" words we used were: wagon, wand, wolf, Washington monument, whale, wheel, washing machine, wheelbarrow, well, worm, and watermelon. At the end of the presentation, I showed them the four images we would mostly be dealing with - wolf, worm, watermelon, and wheels -  and I used these as the structure for  the activities that followed.

Read-Aloud
I read B.G. Hennessey's version of The Boy Who Cried Wolf which is relatively short, and also very funny. The kids really liked it, and I even got them to talk about the story a little bit, both as I was reading and afterward. 

Bag of Verbs
This was the most hectic round of "Bag of Verbs" we have ever played because a couple of the boys decided to just run around instead of following the bag's directions. In the end, I picked a few words out a time and we did the motions really quickly, before finally just sitting down and asking the kids to do the same. 

Read-Along 
I found a poem called I Brought a Worm and told it to the kids as a rebus with puppets. This way, no one could read ahead of the group, and everyone could call out the words at the same time. I'd like to use this approach again a few times, perhaps not always with images, but sometimes with simpler words they might be able to recognize as well. This was the point in story time when the behavior was the worst, but some of the kids who were not misbehaving seemed to really enjoy it.

Literacy Game
I created a matching game shaped like a watermelon. The watermelon slice had white "seeds" on it, each printed with an easy-to-sound-out word, and then I had black "seeds" printed with the first letters of each of the words. I called out random words and asked kids to help me find them,  then gave a child the letter to place over the word. When it came time to clean up, I asked one child at a time to find me one letter and bring it to me. I also asked some bigger kids to help their younger siblings participate. This was probably my favorite part of the story time, and I hope to be able to create some more games like this to use with other letters.

Write and Draw Activity The Wheels on the ________Go 'Round and 'Round

I kept the write and draw activity simple because I didn't know how many kids to expect. This ended up being perfect for the broad age range, and I was pleased with the results. I probably could have made it a bit trickier, but I liked that it was so open-ended and let the kids be as creative as they wanted. I also introduced this last activity by reminding them of our list of four images from the beginning of the session and seeing if they could remember which one we hadn't used yet. (And they could!)

I'll be off next Wednesday, but I am already excited for my next read-along story time on July 10th!

Read-Along Story Time for Beginning Readers, 6/20/13

 Read-Along Story Time for Beginning Readers, 6/20/13

Read-Along

I found a website with some free printable rebus stories. Knowing how my age group has been skewing younger and younger since the weather has turned nice, I didn't think the kids would be able to handle following along on paper and reading the rebus together that way, so I adapted one called I Like Summer for the iPad using clipart. The age group was a bit strange, in that one child could read and the rest could not, so the reader kind of stole the spotlight away from the other kids, but it still worked well having the rebus images come up on the screen one at a time and asking the kids to call them out.

Making a List 
We made a list of words that begin with S. I had to give clues to prompt the kids, and again, only the girl who could read gave me any answers. (It turned out that some of  the others got the schedule mixed up and thought this was our preschool story time, which made a lot of sense.)

Bag of Verbs
I have been using the verbs we act out as a chance to have various impromptu discussions. This time, we talked about animals that jump. The quietest little boy in the group who says nothing most weeks came up with kangaroo, and I nearly exploded with joy, I was so thrilled! This is my favorite part of the story time because it introduces kids who don't read to the way new words look and sound, and the readers can usually

Read-Aloud 
We read Lionel in Summer by Stephen Krensky. It's a pretty tame set of stories about how one boy spends his summer, but the kids seemed to enjoy it despite the lack of serious action. They didn't have much to say about it, which is always disappointing, but I think if I start pulling together some discussion questions for when I do have some older kids, that will be a helpful way to start conversations about the books in the future.

Drawing Activity
I adapted this idea from Pinterest into a simple coloring sheet. I asked the kids to write or draw what they wanted to do this summer. Most of them didn't understand that idea and just colored.

Read-Along Story Time for Beginning Readers, 6/13/13

Read-Along Story Time for Beginning Readers, 6/13/13

Attendees

Only two kids - twins - showed up, and they are known to be slightly too young for this story time, and very very quiet. I knew right away that most of what I planned was beyond their developmental level, so I cut some of the activities and just went with a very basic story time. 

Read-Along

There wasn't much reading along because of how young the kids are - and the fact that English may not be their first language - but I shared a flannelized version of Whose Garden Is It? by Mary Ann Hoberman. I read most of the story aloud, but asked the kids to help me name each animal, and once we had named them, I put their names on the flannel board with their accompanying images. With kids who could read, I would have had them actually sound out the names of the different animals.

Bag of Verbs
These kids ordinarily don't do anything during this part of  the story time, but this time, they actually stood up and did some of the movements. Progress!

Read-Aloud
I read A Hole is to Dig, which they didn't seem to like - or understand - at all.  They would really do so much better at the preschool story time, but the mom doesn't seem clear on the difference, and I haven't had much luck trying to explain it.

Write and Draw Activity
I handed out copies of the worksheet below, asking them to draw what they might find in a hole. At first, they just colored all over the papers, but when I asked them to think about what might be inside the holes they dug, the boy said "a diamond" and the girl said, "a heart shape." I wrote their responses on the lines so they could show their mom.

I am really hoping for a resurgence in attendance for this story time this summer. I'm only doing four story times a week this summer, and three of them, including this one, are likely not to attract participants. I'll keep promoting them and hope for the best!  

Read-Along Story Time for Beginning Readers, 5/30/13

 Read-Along Story Time for Beginning Readers, 5/30/13

Attendees
Today's story time started out very small, with just one newly-five-year-old boy and one first grade girl. I was nervous about catering to the abilities of kids at such disparate stages of development, but I was quickly calmed by the fact that both kids were really into everything I was sharing with them. Both could read a little, too, which was great! Halfway through the action song listed below,  three more kids came in, so our total for the day was five.

Discussion: What Can You Do With Water? 
The kids thought this question was tricky, but they came up with swimming, splashing, drinking, washing hands, and using an umbrella to keep the rain away. They also informed me that water is in oceans and rivers.

Name That Fish
I took down the names of all the fish and sea creatures in Marianne Berkes's Over in the Ocean in a Coral Reef, then found photos of them to show the kids on the iPad. They recognized the clownfish, the stingray, and the dolphin, as well as the seahorse and the pufferfish. The others we learned together.

Over in the Ocean Action Song
Once we had all our sea creatures named, we sang the song from the Marianne Berkes book - without the book. I had the kids call out the numbers and act out the different creatures' movements  according to the suggestions Berkes provides in the back of her book. All the kids - except the two youngest and quietest - got really into it.

ISH Chant 
I wrote my own chant based on the ING chant on the website for Ling and Ting Not Exactly the Same, which I used at a previous story time. We made the words fish, dish, wish, and squish, and the kids could read all of them but the last one.  

Read-Along 
I found this poem on Scholastic's Teacher website, and printed it up for the kids to read. We read the poem twice. The first time we used a call and response format. The second time, we just went straight through the poem. I also asked the kids to identify the two words in the poem that were also in our ISH chant. They found fish, and I helped them find wish.

Bag of Verbs 
We acted out ten verbs in all, based on what the kids chose from my bag. The highlights were wiggle, hop, and shuffle.

Read-Aloud 
Our read-aloud this week was A Fish Out of Water by Helen Palmer (who is apparently Dr. Seuss's wife!) The kids were great about making predictions and they all said they enjoyed the story. I would have liked to do more to have the kids interact with the text, but I was a bit stumped about how to make that happen.

Write and Draw Activity

I created this write and draw activity. The image is of a fishhook dangling into the water, and the questions beneath the image ask, "What would you use for bait?" and "What kind of fish do you think you would catch?" Some of the kids didn't get it and just colored the page. One boy invented a fish called the "ocean stinger" who had an elaborate backstory, including the fact that he must be caught with chocolate cake filled with strawberry yogurt and blueberries. The first grade girl drew a fish and a crocodile, and a deep-sea diver, but assured me the crocodile was friendly to people.

I use the same hello and goodbye songs at almost every session. Click here for the tunes and words. For descriptions of each of my story times, click here.

Read-Along Story Time for Beginning Readers, 5/9/13

 Read-Along Story Time for Beginning Readers, 5/9/13

Attendees
This story time attracted two beginning readers, a toddler, a nanny and a mom. The boy beginning reader is almost five and attends school. The girl beginning reader has just turned four, and has never been to school.

Name That Bug 
I put some photos of different interesting insects in a Google Drive presentation, then showed it to the kids on the iPad. Unlike some of the other "Name That" activities we have done, this one wasn't that great for encouraging discussion, especially because there were only two kids in attendance and both were very shy. I don't think I would use this particular set of images again, unless the kids were 6 or 7 and had some real-life experiences with bugs to apply to them.

Read-Aloud 
We read Hey, Little Ant, which is a book I have always liked and never realized my library owned until this week. It was a bit much, philosophically, for the two four year olds who attended this story  time, but they still seemed to enjoy it. Their favorite part was when the ant takes on the large size of the kid. One of the kids, a boy who comes regularly to this  story time, informed me that the ten commandments would keep him from  squishing the ant. That was cute.

Making a List 
We tried to make a list of what we'd bring on a picnic, but only the boy participated. The girl was really too busy to be ready for this kind of story time, and she didn't really participate. 

Bag of Verbs
For this week's bug theme, I rewrote  the verbs on the back of some foam bugs. This activity has never not gone well, but the boy was shy because none of his usual buddies were at story time, and the girl's little sister was in her lap, making it difficult to participate.  So we only did about six movements, and most of  them only I actually did.

Read-Along 
I shared a poem from the April 2013 issue of Ladybug magazine called "Family of Ladybugs", which is by Connie Bowsman. Since neither child could read, I had them repeat each line after me, and that worked very well. I'd do that again, even with my regular group of kids.

Drawing Activity
This week, I used an activity created by Little Miss Kindergarten, which is available from Teachers Pay Teachers. It is an empty bug jar. I asked the kids to draw some bugs and then count them. The little girl had to leave before her picture was finished, but the boy drew a beautiful firefly and I helped him label it with his name, the number 1, and the word firefly.

Read-Along Story Time for Beginning Readers, 5/2/13

 Read-Along Story Time for Beginning Readers, 5/2/13

Name That Job
I showed the kids a series of hats on the iPad and asked them to name who wears that hat, and what that person does. The kids knew instantly that a chef "cooks things" but they had trouble explaining the work of firefighters. I was told that police officers "put people in jail" and that astronauts "go up into space." They thought a jester hat would be perfect for a clown, and they had no idea what to make of a surgeon's cap. I love opening story time with this kind of exercise because it breaks the ice, it encourages the kids to tell stories and describe what they know, and because the kids always learn something new!

Read-Aloud 
We read LMNO Peas by Keith Baker. I didn't know if  this age group would think an alphabet book was too juvenile, but they really enjoyed it. Sometimes I just read a page straight through. Other times, I stopped to ask the kids what a miner does, or what an acrobat does. They were really  engaged and had lots of great responses to all the information in the text. I would definitely use another alphabet book with this group!

Making a List: What is Green?
We talked about the fact that peas are green, then made a great list of other green things. We were slow to get started, but the youngest boy in the group piped up with "alligator" and then they all got rolling, even the two quietest kids in the room, who were new to this story time.  At the end, our list looked like this:

Though I sometimes forget, I did remember to read the list back to them this time.

Bag of Verbs
I brought out the bag of words again, and the two boys who have been to this story time before got really excited. This segment of the story time can sometimes get a little wild, but they all love to take their turn reaching into the bag, so that usually gets them to focus between motions. I am going to take another look at the words in this bag and try to add some more after a couple more weeks.

Read-Along
We read a poem from Highlights High Five Magazine called Peas, Peas, Peas. I first played the audio version from the Highlights website, then we read the poem aloud together. This part of the story time is still a work in progress, as we used to attract readers and now we are attracting mostly pre-readers. I did notice the one little girl in the room trying to repeat each line after me. That might be how I handle this section next week.

Writing Activity: My Pea
In Publisher, I created this simple activity where the kids could design a pea and tell us something about it. One boy made a ghost doctor pea, another made an entire family of peas, with all kinds of little pea babies, and the two kids who were siblings (possibly twins?) both made theirs into rainbows. Another boy gave his long pink hair, and drew a table for it to sit at and eat corn.

Click the image to download your own copy of my pea printable!

Notes
This was a great story time - one of the best for this age group ever! I am really pleased with the structure of the program now, and I think it can easily be adapted to suit the level of  the kids in attendance. This was  a young group - one preschooler and four Pre-K kids, and they did fine with it, but I can imagine kids who could read would have gotten just as much out of it, just on a different level. I'm looking forward to doing more of this story times between now and the end of school, and hopefully continuing into the summer!

Read-Along Story Time for Beginning Readers, 4/18/13

Read-Along Story Time for Beginning Readers, 4/18/13

After last week's breakthrough regarding the best format for read-along story time, I felt confident in preparing this week's session. I kept the same format, and made sure to keep the kids involved at every stage of the game. Only three kids truly participated, all of whom are regulars, and they were wonderful the entire time. Read on to find out what made this session such a success.

Name That Kitchen Tool 
Last week,  I used paper flashcards to have the kids  name various popular characters. This week, I thought of doing the same thing with things in the kitchen, but then realized it would be much easier to present the photos and words to accompany them on the iPad then it would be to cut out a bunch of pieces of paper. I created a very simple presentation in Google Drive, downloaded the Drive app to one of my branch's iPads, and held the iPad in my hands to show the kids. It worked like a charm. No one could sneak into my pile to "cheat" and see what would come next, and all the kids had great things to say about what happens in the kitchen. ("The refrigerator is to make things freezy." "A wok? That sounds like walk, walk, walk." "I had sunny-side up eggs in a frying pan this morning!")

What We Like to Eat / What We Don't Like to Eat 

On the whiteboard easel, we made two lists, one of foods we like, and one of foods we don't. The answers were mostly generic, but I was impressed by the little girl who supplied both "skin on chicken" and "edible flowers" and who said, suddenly and with great excitement, "Do you know what I love?! Salmon!!!!" Kudos also to the little boy who said, "In some countries, people eat bugs. I do not like to eat bugs."

Bag of Verbs 
I thought about using a different set of words for the kids to act out,  and then I realized repetition of these words - with corresponding movements - is actually probably the best way for the kids to learn the ones they don't know, and to begin to associate the way the words look with their meanings. We did 9 words today, and the kids were wonderfully creative with their movements for things like "sleep," "crawl," and "wiggle." We also talked about what could be juggled and what kinds of vehicles we could drive.

Read-Aloud 
Today, we read Yoko by Rosemary Wells. At this point, three girls joined the group, but only because they wanted to color. Interestingly, the three girls were the ones who liked the book the most - the others were lukewarm about it, and said so.

Read-Along
For this portion of the story time, we used the iPad again, this time to tell a story I found in a 1994 issue of Ladybug magazine. The story is called "I Want Fruit," and it narrates a simple exchange between Becky, who wants fruit, and her mom, who offers many types of fruit, then finally surprises her daughter with a fruit salad. I created another simple Google Drive presentation showing just some of the words from the story - including the color and name of each fruit, and Becky's repeated refrain of "Maybe." The telling of the story didn't go as smoothly as I would have liked, but it was my first time using the iPad in this way, so I think it will get easier with time. The kids were much more engaged than normal, and kids at different levels were able to supply different words depending on whether they read the words, the pictures, or the color of the text. Though I don't want to use the iPad every week, I think having these visuals on a screen instead of on shoddy-looking construction paper or cardstock was a huge improvement. *If you would like the words to the story or my Google Drive presentation, send me an email, and I am happy to share. "I Want Fruit" may also be available in your local library's online databases.
 

Writing and Drawing Activity

Each child received this handout, which asked for their name, and their favorite meal. Most of  the girls copied each other and drew fruit salads. One of the boys drew a pancake with chocolate chips and syrup, then carefully wrote pancake along the bottom with my help. The activity was a little much for some of them, but they all enjoyed coloring, if nothing else. If this had been a group of kindergarteners, this activity would have been absolutely perfect. *Click here to download the handout.

Read-Along Story Time for Beginning Readers, 4/11/13

Read-Along Story Time for Beginning Readers, 4/11/13

Name That Character 

I printed out colored pictures of several characters from picture books and easy readers that I thought would be familiar to kids in this age group. The list included Madeline, Olivia the Pig, Frog and Toad, Elephant and Piggie, Fly Guy, Pigeon, Ladybug Girl, and Fancy Nancy. The group was a little younger than usual, and none of them are yet reading independently, but they knew all the characters except Ladybug Girl and Fly Guy. 

Making a List 

After we had gone over some characters, we made our own list of the kinds of books we like to read. Many of the  responses were repeats from the Name That Character activity, but not all. We also used the whiteboard on the easel instead of posterboard which made it a lot easier for me to write things down. The only downside is we didn't get to save our list to hang up. In any case, before the list got erased, here's how it looked: 

Bag of Verbs

In a brown paper lunch bag, I put 20 slips of paper with verbs printed on them. I explained what a verb was, then we chose words out of the bag at random and made motions to illustrate their meaning. Since the group was small, each child took two turns choosing words. If the kids had been a bit more advanced, I would have had them help me read the word, but as it was, they were great at getting into the spirit of  things and acting them out.

Read-Aloud 

This week, we read Wild About Books. I chose the story with my regulars in mind, since they're all nearing the end of kindergarten and would "get" a lot of the humor, but even these younger kids did well with it. The only part they really didn't engage with was the section where the scorpion reviews the insects' haiku. Oh well.

Read-Along 

This week's read-along was a poem by Lee Bennett Hopkins called "Good Books, Good Times." I tried using this with a Pre-K group very early in the year and found that it did not work well for chanting as a class, but it worked better as a read-along. The kids were not readers, but I showed them that each line started with the word "good" and they said at least that word with me in every line. We also learned what "fiction" means. 

Writing and Drawing Activity 

I created a handout, again with bigger kids in mind, which asked the kids to write or draw the books they would like to see on their bookshelves. Two boys who were at the story time where we read Chicken Butt insisted on writing Chicken Butt as the only title on their shelves. They also asked me to write "Miss Katie Butt" but I said I didn't really like that and asked them to choose something else. In the end, everyone just colored, and that was perfectly fine. I plan to save this activity - and perhaps modify it as a way to prompt kids to share what they read with this summer. It would have been a perfect writing activity for my kindergarteners and first graders. (Click here to download a copy of the handout as a .pdf.)

After this session, I can actually feel a predictable structure coming together for this story time, which makes me very happy. I'm so thankful to the library associate at my branch who filled in for me a couple of weeks ago because she used a poem with the kids, which gave me the idea of using a one-page handout instead of a homemade booklet, which has made a huge difference. I also think having a set structure that repeats each week will keep the behavior problems under better control. My thought is that we will use the Name That ________ activity as a means of introducing and reviewing vocabulary. Making a list gets the kids talking and sharing information. Acting out words helps with vocabulary and also gets the kids moving around. (I have other sets of words to use in the future as well, including sound words and musical instruments.) Doing the read-aloud before the read-along allows me to keep a structured story time setting until just before we draw and color, so there is no opportunity for the kids to get distracted and start being overly silly. I plan to use this same approach next week, and hopefully many of  the regulars will be back to join me!

Read-Along Story Time for Beginning Readers, 4/4/13

 Read-Along Story Time for Beginning Readers, 4/4/13

I was on vacation last week and did not do this story time, but heard from my colleague who filled in that there were a lot of kids in attendance who don't normally come (which makes sense during Spring Break). With that in mind, I decided to ease up on myself a little bit and plan something very simple. I like this structure more than the usual chaos, but I did also find myself wishing that this group of ten boys and one girl was a bit more vocal and a little more willing to be silly. I'm still seeking that happy medium! Still, this one felt like a success, and I would use the same structure again in the future.

Opening Song
I debated about whether to do an opening song, and finally decided it might be wise to get the kids' wiggles out. I sang It's Story Time (based on "Warm Up Time" from Action Songs for Preschoolers) and asked the kids for suggested motions. One boy - who is a regular - suggested jumping jacks then tried to tell me I was doing them incorrectly. The parents in the room got big laughs out of  that. The song itself was a flop and we ended it quickly. This was not a wiggly group, and the song did not  break the ice as I had hoped.

Making an Alphabet List 
I told the kids our story time was about games this week and asked them to name other things that start with G. Answers included grapes, gum, ghost, and gray.

Read-Aloud
This was less of a read-aloud and more of a cooperative discussion, because The Boys by Jeff Newman is a wordless picture book. This worked fairly well with just one or two kids actively participating. I imagine it would have been much better if the regular loudmouths had been here, and it might have channeled their wild energies into something positive. In any case, I may take this book with me to my next Pre-K visit, because I think it does work well in story time.

Making a List 
We made a second list - this time of games you can play inside and games you can play outside. Inside games included cards, puzzles, and airplanes. Outdoor games were rubgy, golf, baseball, basketball, and hide-and-seek. 

Read-Along
This week's read-along was a poem I found in Ladybug magazine - "Hide-and-Seek" by Susan Weiss, from the   The library I work in does not subscribe to Ladybug in full text, but the library where I live does, so I logged in there and printed out enough copies of the poem for every child to have one. I also wrote the words up on the whiteboard, but in retrospect I'm not sure why, because no one looked at them. We read the poem twice, which traditionally we don't do, and the kids seemed to like it, though they were very quiet. 

Writing Activity
I devised my own write and draw activity to suit the games theme. (Click the image to download a copy.)

I showed the kids the handout ahead of time and explained that the second line was for a game they liked to play, and the last line was for someone they liked to play with. Kids wrote about games like "ambulance" and "teepees" as well as baseball and golf.

This was a nice, calm session that would have worked slightly better with older and more vocal kids. Still, it was well-attended, everyone seemed to have fun, and I'm looking forward to the challenge of next week!

Read-Along Story Time for Beginning Readers, 3/21/13

Read-Along Story Time for Beginning Readers, 3/21/13 

Poem 

Like I did last week, I skipped the welcome message at the start of the session and just jumped right in with a poem to help them get their wiggles out. I found it totally by accident, as it happened to be on the reverse page of a poem I read earlier in the week at a class visit. The title is Somersaults, and it's by the inimitable Jack Prelutsky. (Find it in Read-Aloud Rhymes for the Very Young.) The text talks about turning somersaults and stretching and bending, and I just read the words and let the kids act them out. 

Read-Along Mad Libs

My husband and I had several discussions about how to improve this story time, and he mentioned Mad Libs. I knew it would be too hard for the kids in this group to name specific parts of speech, so I came up with a generic story where they could plug in colors, articles of clothing, and parts of the body. I did allow them to use "butt" but when one little girl tried to put "vagina" in the story I told her we had to pick something that was more polite to talk about at story time. I was pretty sure she used that word just to get a rise out of me, but it didn't work, and none of  the younger kids or parents in the room even flinched. The entire Mad Libs activity that I created can be downloaded here. I recommend covering the pages with contact paper so they can be erased. By doing that, I made it possible for us to do two versions of the story, which kept the kids engaged that much longer and stretched their brains to think of more words.

Find the Pom-Pom
This idea came from Pinterest. I labeled three cups with words from the same word family - wear, bear, and tear, then hid a red pom-pom under one of them. The kids had to guess  by reading the word, if they could - where the pom-pom was hidden. This game worked fine, and all the kids wanted to take a turn, but there was a lot of cheating and some of  the kids intentionally took a long  time hiding the pom-pom to give their friends time to peek or run around or whatever. This is a good one-on-one activity, but I don't think I'd do it again with a group.

Read-Alouds
I read two short picture books: Chicken Butt by Erica Perl and Chicken Cheeks by Michael Ian Black. Though the kids enjoyed them - and they also enjoyed passing around the chicken who said, "Guess what? Chicken butt!" every time they squeezed him - I felt really uncomfortable promoting all this toilet humor at story time. I know kids think it's funny, and they love the opportunity to talk about butts and poop and all of that, but I don't know if that is really a good reason to encourage it. I'd rather get them hooked on something else than give into what I have always thought is disgusting to talk about. The adults weren't upset when t hey picked up their kids, but I did get a few looks that sent a message similar to "Seriously? I send my kid to story time and you taught him a butt joke?" I don't want to be that adult. So my goal now is to find out what else they think is funny so they can have this much fun again, but I can also feel like I'm teaching something of value.

Writing Activity
We drew on aluminum foil with markers. This has been a successful craft in the past, but they got bored of it quickly and crumpled up the foil and left it on the floor.

This was a much better program than the last two or three, and I think it was because of  the variety of activities and the high level of the kids' involvement. They still have this idea that this is a place to fool around, whereas when the same kids come to preschool story time, they sit silently. I would love for them to at least take turns and sit when they're told to sit, but if there has to be chaos, I'll take the chaos of this session over what has happened previous weeks.

Read-Along Story Time for Beginning Readers, 3/14/13

 Read-Along Story Time for Beginning Readers, 3/14/13

I prepared this story time for this week with the regular attendees in mind, and then most of them didn't come. I changed the structure specifically to make it more fun and less academic, and to hopefully address some of the wiggles and giggles early on in the session so we could have the fun of reading without a lot of interruptions and discussions about poop. It worked fairly well, but it's hard to say how it would have gone if  the regular kids had been there. As it was, two of the regulars who ordinarily do not behave well tried their best to get the other kids to join them in yelling, purposely falling over, and generally wreaking havoc, but the other kids' parents were in the room so they actually did follow directions and participate.

Opening Song
I skipped the welcome message and went instead for a welcome song -  Raffi's "Let's Make Some Noise." I thought this would be a hugely raucous and fun time, but there were only four kids in the room, and three of them were shy newbies. So... they got musical instruments to play, but barely made a sound, and I had to cut out the verses on  the ukulele and instead give them motions to do so they wouldn't just be sitting there looking lost. This would have worked great with a larger group - maybe we'll try it again in a few weeks.

Matching Game 
This week's read-along was a poem I found called Ears Hear. Each line of the poem lists a different sound and who or what makes that sound. To make things more interactive, I created a poster showing images of the different noisy people, animals, and objects, then put all the sound words in a paper bag labeled "Bag of Noises." I pulled out one sound at a time, we made the sound all together, and then we matched the sound  to the object, animal, or person who makes it. The kids who were in  the room from the start were able to do it and seemed to enjoy it, but a group of Pre-K kids who came late was totally lost. I wish I had cut the poem short somehow - like last week's activity, it was too long to hold their attention. I think poetry is a good choice, though, and I have already turned another poem into a printable book for an upcoming session.

Read-Along
When we finished matching everything up, we read the poem all together once through. The kids couldn't remember any of the sound words that went with any of the animals or objects, so I basically wound up reading to them. Again, if the poem had been shorter - and perhaps if the read-along version had also included the pictures, it would have been more of an interactive experience. I'm still having such a hard time finding things that are engaging enough to keep their attention and easy enough for them to read.

Read-Aloud 
I had Double Trouble in Walla Walla by Andrew Clements already checked out from another branch, so I decided to read that. I have no idea if the kids liked it - they were so quiet! This group does tend to get quiet and engrossed during the read-aloud portion, so I think silence is a good sign. I will say - this book is almost as difficult to read aloud as Fox in Socks! 

Goodbye Song
Since the poem took so long, I didn't have a craft or writing activity. To signal that story time was over, we sang Hats, Coats, Pants, and Shoes, which the kids loved.

This was a better story time than last week, so I think I'm headed in a good direction. Next week, I hope to use another easy reader printable on the theme of monsters.

Read-Along Story Time for Beginning Readers, 3/7/13

 Read-Along Story Time for Beginning Readers, 3/7/13

This story time is one of the most rewarding programs I do, but oh, does it have its challenges. After a very successful program last week, this one was chaotic and exasperating. To my credit, I remained calm and managed not to get angry at all the silliness, but I still felt like things were fairly out of control, at least during the actual read-along. There is a part of me that things it would be easier on me if we were to eliminate the read-along portion altogether, but I know it's what the kids love. And based on what I've observed, even when they don't sit in an orderly row and call out words as I wish they would, they do still get something out of it. I think I'm still nervous that to the casual observer it seems like all we do is laugh and make poop jokes, but I am trying to teach myself not to gauge program success based on the kids's behavior. I'm not a traditional classroom teacher, and this isn't school. I still have things to work out, and lessons to learn, but I still eagerly look forward to next week's session, so it can't be all bad.

Welcome Message

 

 I finally figured out how to use our easel, so I used it to prop up the welcome message. The only failure on my part was that I left it up as the kids came in and all of them had read it by the time we sat down to read it together. I think this part of the story time might not be serving me well as an opening activity. It doesn't get them to focus and it doesn't promote good listening. I wonder if they'd like it more if it were an animated powerpoint presentation on an iPad or something. I hate to use too much technology when these kids already have so much of it, but I wonder if something flashier would be more likely to grab their attention.

Making a List 
In previous weeks, making lists has been great. This week, it was a disaster. I asked the kids to tell me what they like to do in the library. All of them said, "Be crazy!" and proceeded to demonstrate. I also have to remember not to use the stools with this group anymore. They flip them over and rock on them like see saws! I think a discussion where everyone participates is still such a valuable part of the story time, I just need to find better topics that actually elicit real answers. (Suggestions are welcome!)

Read-Along

This week, I was inspired by Mary Ann Hoberman's You Read to Me, I'll Read to You. (See the image at the top of this post.) I spent probably 4 hours all together putting together a flannel board of one of the poems from the book, entitled "I Like." I printed out the dialogue in speech bubbles, and used two existing flannel board pieces as the story's characters. I ran out of time to print out any visual cues, though, and I think the kids got out of hand because they had no context for the words they were reading, and most of the words were too hard for them. Interestingly, though, when I told them afterwards where the rhyme came from, they asked me to read it to them again. When I did, they were able to fill in almost every rhyming word. So  they were listening, even when they were crawling under the table and trying to peek at the next piece for the flannel board. I felt so overwhelmed by their behavior that after the program, I felt like it had gone badly, but I realize as I write this that I still got the results I wanted. I think using the flannel board is a good idea, but maybe with a much shorter poem, and without all the Contact paper and Velcro and everything that made me feel like I wasted my time and money.

Read-Aloud
Ling and Ting Not Exactly the Same is a sure-fire hit with this age group, and this wild bunch calmed right down and really seemed to enjoy it. I opened to the table of contents and was informed by one of the girls that her kindergarten teacher had just talked about tables of contents that day and they were able to tell me how to use it and what it was for.

ING Chant

Grace Lin's website has this handy printable guide which includes lots of activities related to Ling and Ting Not Exactly the Same. I printed out one page of the guide - shown in the photo above - and we all  said the chant together. I used stick puppets to show how the "ing" ending looked with the different letters in front of it. The kids got very excited about it, and it was probably the part of the story time they liked best.

Write and Draw Activity
The last thing we did was fill in a handout I created. It was just a table with four boxes. Three of the boxes said "I like..." and one said "I don't like..." I encouraged the kids to write or draw in each box. Most of them did it, but one boy complained it was too much like school, and no one spent as long as they usually do on the activity.  I might try putting together something for them to take home next time.

All in all, I think this is a story time I could use again, possibly with a school group of slightly older kids. It's more difficult when the reading levels are so disparate and different kids come each week. Next week, I'm planning to use another poem, but I have visuals to accompany it, and I'm just going to use poster board instead of making another elaborate flannel board. I plan to spend more time going over the words so that they won't be as lost, and hopefully, they will be calmer. (Though with the weather warming up, that seems so unlikely!) I am also looking for professional development resources that might make this program come to life even more. Check back next week for my next adventure!

Read-Along Story Time for Beginning Readers, 2/28/13

 Read-Along Story Time for Beginning Readers, 2/28/13

This week's session wasn't the best ever, but it wasn't that far off. There were  six kids in all - five in the target age range and one preschooler whose mother insisted she was a beginning reader. (She was a smart and fun kid, but she was out of her element, and I think her mom realized that quickly.) I changed up the order of events a little bit, so that our discussion was first, our read-along second, and our read-aloud  third, and I think I will try to stick with that structure for a bit and see how it works.

Welcome Message
 I feel like I'm getting into a rut with these messages. The information that changes each week is fine, but the way I open and close  the messages is starting to sound awkward. I think I might sit down and write several examples and then just draw from the pool each week so I'm not always trying to come up with them as I'm writing them.

Making a List
I cut a letter D out of a piece of poster board, and then asked the kids to help me think of D words. Most of the kids needed prompts and hints to come up with a real word, but one of the boys gave me a whole list of words ending with D, which was even more interesting than what I had in mind for this activity. The fact that we started with this activity also opened up opportunities to notice D sounds in other words throughout the story time.

Read-Along 

I wrote a simple story about a girl detective whose cat steals her hat. One of the kids told me it was boring, but the other kids took their copies with them and I spied some of them re-reading them on their own out in the children's area. You can download a copy of this book for your use here.

Read-Aloud
I debated and debated over whether a Cam Jansen book would be too much for  this group, but I 'm glad I decided to go ahead and read Young Cam Jansen and the Dinosaur Game. They didn't have much to say about it, and we got interrupted twice - one boy had to use the bathroom, the other had a stomachache - but they seemed pretty engaged throughout the entire book. I'm still working on how to get them to actually talk about the book after we finish it. So far, the questions I have asked have not received any responses.

Craft

I wanted to use small paper plates to make magnifying glasses, but found that popsicle sticks would not attach to their rounded edges. My husband wound up using a razor blade and two different sized cans from our kitchen cabinet to make circles out of cardstock for me to use. I told the kids they could use these magnifying glasses to help them find things that start with each letter of the alphabet or even of their names. They spent very little time coloring and writing on them, but at least three of the kids actually went out into the library on a letter hunt. One of the kids stuck with it for a good long time, and kept stopping by the desk to ask me and my colleague various questions. I gave one to his two year old sister, as well, and she informed me that she could see ladybug footprints on the floor. The mom of the preschooler who came to story time also said she thought it would be a helpful tool for her in helping her daughter learn to read.

I use the same hello and goodbye songs at almost every session. Click here for the tunes and words. For descriptions of each of my story times, click here.

Read-Along Story Time for Beginning Readers, 2/21/13

Read-Along Story Time for Beginning Readers, 2/21/13

This story time is such a rollercoaster. Some weeks it's just perfect, and I can't believe how wonderful it is. Other weeks - like this past one - it is just a disaster. Here's what happened this week. 

Welcome Message 

I got an idea about what kind of session this was going to be when I finished reading the message and a five-year-old girl told me, "You're not my friend." Rather than engage the comment as unfriendly or obnoxious or whatever she was trying to be, I used it as an opportunity to explain that there are lots of ways to close letters. Then I moved on to what I thought was going to be the most exciting part of story time. 

Read-Along 

I really wanted to use I Like Stars by Margaret Wise Brown, but we don't have enough copies in our system for every child to hold one in his or her hand. So I used our overhead projector to show the pages from the book on the wall. I really thought the kids would love this concept, and I expected it to combat the problem we normally have of kids reading ahead of me during the read-along. But in all my predictions about how things would go, I did not expect the kids to change the word "stars" to "farts." Early elementary school is my favorite age to work with, but I don't like the toilet humor. Furthermore, I don't think the parents like it when their kids come to story time and talk about farts the entire time. I did my best to remain calm. I said things like, "Oh, you're picking up on the "AR" sound. Are there other words that have that sound, too?" But they didn't care to indulge me and kept right on making poop jokes. I eventually just read the rest of the book to them quickly, then shut off the projector and took out my picture book. 

Picture Book Read-Aloud 

I was excited to read Stars, which is one of my favorite picture books, and I thought this group was old enough to actually understand it. Sadly, they were too silly to sit and listen to more than a page at a time. I try not to turn this into a highly academic environment, but I did eventually have to say that if we didn't stop talking about bathroom things, we'd have to go sit with our grown-ups out in the library instead of finishing story time. Thankfully, the next activity was interactive and we were able to get back on track - mostly.

Making a List 

I asked the kids to think of what they would wish for if they could wish upon a star. This is their list. (Answers related to poop were ignored, and they stopped making those comments eventually.)

I think making lists and word clouds is going to work really well with this story time going forward. They seem to focus the best when there is a discussion going on, and not as well when we're sitting and reading. I also had three more kids come in during this activity who were much more engaged and ready to participate than the kids who sat through the stories at the beginning. Perhaps it would be a better idea to do this brainstorming and chatting at the start of story time, and then read to them later when they've settled down. Typically, I start story times right away with a book because the kids' attention spans are short, but this group might need a different approach.

Craft 

I had the kids write their names on construction paper, then gave them some stars to turn their names into constellations. We had several kids try to write "poopy" as their name, but they got over it when I didn't react.  Some of the kids spent more than 30 minutes on their projects. The only issue was that parents kept asking me if their kids could leave. They didn't understand that story time was over, and when the kids weren't done with their crafts and didn't want to leave, the parents were asking me to close the room so they could get their kids to leave willingly. I'll have to work on setting better limits on exactly when we will be "finished." 

I love this story time so much, and I look forward to it as the highlight of  each week. It's been a great challenge for me so far, and it's giving me opportunities to stretch my story time muscles beyond the usual, mostly predictable crowds that attend the other ones. It keeps me on my toes if nothing else, and I can only imagine it will get better the more I do it. Now it's time to head back to the drawing board and figure out what this coming week's will look like!